Cotton bale sampler



Nov. 12, 1957 G. N. FRANKS co'r'ron BALE SAMPLER Filed April 23. 1956 I INVENTOR GERALD N. FRANKS- FIG. 2

ATTORNEYS United States Patent i COTTON BALE SAMPLER Gerald N. Franks, Greenville, Miss.

Application April 23, 1956, Serial No. 580,146

3 Claims. (Cl. 19-156) (Granted under Title 35, U. 8,. Code (1952), sec. 266) A non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty free license for all governmental purposes, throughout the world, with the power to grant sublicenses for such purposes, is hereby granted to the Government of the United States of America.

The patent rights for the United States in my invention in the patent to be granted in this application are dedicated to the public.

This invention relates to a cotton gin sampling method and apparatus and one of its objects is to obtain, during the ginning of a bale, a series of cotton batt layers that will comprise a truly representative cross-section and sample disclosing the clear components of the ginned lint in the bale, taken immediately prior to the process of condensing, pressing and packaging.

Another of the objects of this invention is to provide means adaptable to a cotton gin lint flue for obtaining the series of uniform fractions of the freshly ginned lint co'tton in a miniature ribbon-like batt form concurrently comparable in quality to that of the cotton batt then being produced by the cotton gin condenser in forming the bale.

A third object of this invention is to eliminate a complicated mechanism of air foil splitters and ducts that have heretofore been incorporated in cotton gin mechanical lint samplers.

The following description and accompanying drawings will morefully disclose this invention, its construction arrangement and combinations of parts, from which further objects and advantages will be apparent. In the drawing, Figure 1 is a plan view of this invention as attached to the vertical side of a cotton gin lint flue and Figure 2 is a side elevation of Figure 1. Referring to the drawing in which like numerals designate like parts numeral 1 designates a suitable segment of a main lint flue in a conventional cotton gin, taken at some intermediate point between the ginning batteries and the condenser, as employed in conventional manner for pneumatically conveying lint cotton from cotton gin stands 14 to a lint cotton condenser 15 which in turn discharges into a bale press (not shown),

Main lint flue 1 may be of any cross-sectional shape, but the Cotton Ginning Research Laboratories of the U. S. Department of Agriculture have found that at the appropriate place for taking the lint sample sai-d lint flue 1 should have a square cross-section 1a substantially equal in area to that of the contiguous flue and that this square cross-section should be of ample length to permit two or more feet of square pipe to precede and to follow the sampling point in order to eliminate air turbulence and cavitation, and also to afford a flat surface of adequate dimension for attaching the sampling take-off rectangular duct 2.

Duct 2 extends to and terminates by junction with a miniature suction lint cotton condenser 6 having sample batt discharge port 6a or other suitable means for col- --Patented Nov. 12, 1957 lecting and compressing the sample fractions of air-borne lint cotton into a sample of batt form. Duct 2 is provided with airblast pipe 3 and air nozzle 5 adjacent to the main lint flue 1. Nozzle 5 points in the general direction of cotton flow through lint flue 1 so as to discharge timed flat jets of air across inlet orifice 20 into lint flue 1 codirectional with main cotton flow. Duct 2 is attached substantially at right angles to lint flue 1 having straight leading sidewall 2a for attaching air nozzle connection 5. A portion of trailing sidewall 2b is arcuate to afford a smooth inner convex surface 4. Air under pressure is delivered to air nozzle 5 through airblast pipe 3 by means of compressor or blower 10. At the same time, suction is applied to take-01f duct 2 through miniature condenser 6 by means of suction pipe 6b which is connected to fan 11 or to any other conventional means for the purpose. Flow of air to nozzle 5 is controlled by dampering valve 7, and flow of air from miniature condenser 6 is controlled by dampering valve 8. Valves 7 and 8 are synchronized by means of linkage assembly 9 so that one of the valves is always open when the other is closed. These valves are controlled through linkage 9 by means of linkage 12 which is connected to double acting air piston 13 to alternately open and close the valves. The piston is actuated by means of any conventional electrically operated cycle timer (not shown). Samples are drawn from lint flue 1 during the portion of the cycle when valve 7 is closed and valve 8 is open, as shown in Figure 1.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the method and operation of sampler is very simple. The main volume of ginned cotton lint and its accompanying foreign matter flows under very low pressure through square section lint flue 1 en route to the main gin condenser 15 and to the press. At the sampling point where take-ofi" duct 2 is attached to lint flue 1 a fractional quantity of the ginned cotton flow may be drawn into orifice 2c of duct 2 by opening valve 8 and simultaneously closing valve 7. The lint sample is drawn through duct 2 into condenser 6 from which the sample is removed as a miniature batt through part 6a. As the timing cycle progresses piston 13 actuates valve linkage 9 to close valve 8 and simultaneously open valve 7, causing a fla-t jet of pressured air to flow from nozzle 5 across orifice 2c and tangentially impinge upon arcuate surface 4. A shut-otf wall of flowing air is thereby formed that prevents lint from entering duct 2 but does not disturb the uniformity of the main lint stream.

These timed cycles of alternate suction and nozzle jet cut-off, repeated several times during the ginning of a bale of cotton, thus provide miniature batts that are folded upon each other to comprise a true and accurate grading sample of cotton which can be classified in conventional manner.

The method and apparatus of this invention do not require complicated mechanical elements and produce uniform, accurate, representative trade samples with utmost simplicity and at low cost.

I claim:

1. Cotton ginning apparatus comprising, in combination, a gin stand, a cotton condenser, a cotton lint conveying flue connecting said gin stand and cotton condenser, and a lint sampling apparatus connected to said flue, said lint sampling apparatus comprising a suction take-off duct connected to said flue, collecting means connected to said take-off duct for collecting a sample of lint, suction means connected to said collecting means for withdrawing a sample of lint from the flue through the take-off duct, an air nozzle connected to the take-ofi duct adapted to direct a flat jet of air under pressure across the full plane of connection between the flue and take-ofl duct in the direction of lint flow in the flue, air-supply means for supplying air under pressure to said nozzle, coacting valves in said air-supply means and suction means so connected that one is open while the other is closed, and timing means for periodically alternately opening and closing the valves whereby, when the valve in theiair-supply means is closed the valve in the suction means is open thereby causing the suction means to withdraw a sample of lint from the flue through the take-off duct, and when the valve in the suction means is closed the valve in the air-supply means is open, thereby directing a fiat barrier of air across the intersection of the flue and take-off duct to prevent entry of lint into the take-off duct.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 in which the take-off duct is substantially at right angles to the lint conveying flue.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 in which the lint conveying flue is of square cross-section at the point of connection with the takeoff duct and for a portion of its length on either side of the take-off duct, said square cross section being of substantially the same area as the rest of the flue; in which the take-off duct is substantially of rectangular cross-section; and in which the take-01f duct has a smooth convex curved surface on its trailing edge opposite the air nozzle to enhance a fiat jet flow of air from the nozzle during periods when the suction valve is closed.

References Cited in the file of this patent Gaus et al.: Automatic Mechanical Equipment for Sampling Cotton Bales During Ginning, Washington: U. S. Department of Agriculture, 1951. Copy in Div. 21. 

